Benin

You should look up some of the crap I rode elsewhere... Too many +1s, so little time...

Gotta love Merlin's selective theming styles in order to avoid having to bother maintaining the attraction to a decent standard... "Oh it's meant to be falling apart, it's ABANDONED" We're never going to have something like Amity Cove again are we? That was a destruction themed area done so well...

And a Wacky Worm... And the M25 viewing platform...

Here I come to ruin the topic (again), I've ordered the trips in chronological order, hence why some are repeated: Disneyland Paris x4 Walt Disney Studios x4 Old MacDonalds Farm Movieland Studios Mirabilandia Gardaland Plopsaland de Panne Alton Towers Blackpool Pleasure Beach Southport Pleasureland New Brighton Funfair Blackgang Chine Pirates Cove Fun Park Flamingo Park Harbour Park West Sands Fun Fair Funland Amusement Park Clarence Pier Pleasure Island Macks Amusements Dunes Leisure Fantasy Island Bottons Rainbow Park Pettitts Animal Adventure Park Hemsby Fun Park Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach Pavilion Fun Park Tivoli Friheden Djurs Sommerland Farup Sommerland Legoland Billund Tayto Park Dennlys Parc Parc du Bocasse Jardin d'Acclimatation Disneyland Paris Walt Disney Studios Parc Asterix Dreamland Familiepretpark Mini Mundi Speelpark Oud Valkeveen Walibi Holland Julianatoren Efteling x3 BillyBird Park Amusementspark Tivoli DippieDoe Familiepark Toverland Avonturenpark Hellendoorn De Waarbeek Plopsa Indoor Coevorden Attractiepark Slagharen Duinrell Drievliet Plopsa Coo Mondo Verde De Valkenier Plopsa Indoor Hasselt Bobbejaanland Efteling Plopsaland de Panne Nearly 60 unique parks this year is reasonably impressive... Also hit #500 this year to boot at Drievliet...

Think it's one of the rides that also indirectly suffered from the Smiler crash aftermath of making sure everything is safe as hell... Shame, as Terry is a decent thing...

https://instagram.com/p/92EK98qDlX/ (Dunno if we can embed Insta links on here, something for Ian to look into?) Either way, click it, you won't be disappointed (perhaps confused though)...

They're already beginning prep by the looks of things: From The Onion

Everything from Tidal Wave to Rumba Rapids basically... Whilst it fits thematically into Amity Cove, it's always been a tad questionable around Calypso, though it doesn't really matter... I don't get the book reference thing...

Everyone's tricked by Baco by thinking it isn't going to be THAT bad surely? Then you ride it, and confuse the survey woman when you give it a 1 because 0 wasn't on her scale...

A building having a second floor does not mean it will be accessible for the public...

That's fine, but it sounds all very within reason and sensible, not from Jamie's stuff (queue properly or just fill up seats)... Gotta balance it, acting like idiots in front of guests regardless of it being your last day is not on...

Gaston has been in my family for a year now:

I agree with Jamie... Though I'm not sure if Thorpe and the others invite returnees back these days, professionalism at all times should be the preferred thing, irrespective of their last day or not...

Remember, it's just a job for these guys, often one that doesn't exactly require historical or factual knowledge to be efficient at... Basic knowledge sure, but I wouldn't expect all staff to know who manufactured Rattlesnake...

Everybody? Most enthusiasts (not on TPM mind) DESPISE the place...

Merlin's obsession with USPs is a big problem... Everything HAS to be easy (read, simple) to market to the masses, presumably because it's easier to get things out there, Derren Brown being involved is a good case in point, as he has a lot of branding in the UK already so it's less work to get the idea across... You know it's going to feature some random psychological aspect (and Merlin aren't letting you forget it either), purely because his name is attached to it... Of course, Merlin aren't the only ones obsessed with it all, plenty of parks go for world's tallest/fastest/boring coaster, but I guess it's mostly due to some of the strangest claims Merlin have pushed forward (IAC/Saw/Thirteen) that we all feel rather skeptical about this... Perhaps if the focus shifted towards getting in confirmed quality over quick gimmicks, things might be a little bit different...

It's a powder and should come under foodstuffs, but we're not the best people to ask on that matter... One thing that makes Efteling tonnes better than any Disney park is the complete lack of screaming children, it's so blissful <3 That's always the problem in parks like these though and doing the whole "ride all the big rides in a day" thing, it does make things extremely difficult to have an enjoyable day... You don't get a chance to really get into the park properly, especially if it's busy (DLP in a day is something I would never suggest, even if the only major ride I missed was BTM, Efteling in a day is just as bad, especially for a newbie)... [/basic] Probably not, but until people start going to places like Efteling/Phannyland/etc then it'll remain highly rated... That said, it's still better than anything the UK parks have to offer in terms of theming quality and general atmosphere... The only REAL bad thing about DLP is the people within... But that could also be said of WDW and DL...

Pancake mix is available to buy in the restaurant and the main shop at the entrance... Efteling isn't about the rides, though the lack of comments over Dreamflight is concerning, or the Fairytale Forest of Forever... Or Flying Dutchman... I still need to do my Baron review...

> Build enthusiast expectations to ridiculously high levels > Fail to exceed these expectations > ??? > Profit!!!

Gotta save that money somehow... That said, it's common as hell abroad that most parks don't open midweek, though usually cos these places have no budget more than anything...

Read what I said again: Back in 2010 this was, if you look through Screamscape (lol, I know, but back in the day it was pretty much the go to place) they mention exactly them rumours... It probably changed to the massive box on wheels at some point, dunno when though... Probably once they realised the Box system was a bit useless looking...

Imagine if you'd actually ridden the original version... To think some people know nothing of how good it once was...

Back when Hartenhof was first announced, the rumours were strongly pointing towards the PD system... Of course since it kept getting delayed it's all changed since... Old promo video here:

I believe even Efteling have given up on that concept (Hartenhof/Symbolica), and they throw money at things like it's going out of fashion... No chance of it, especially cos it's not even referenced on Vekoma's website anymore...